1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seat back locking device for an automobile, the seat back separating a vehicle compartment from a luggage compartment that is configured so as to be capable of being changed from an upright position to a folded-down position, in which the seat back is folded down to the vehicle front side, and vice versa, including
a locking mechanism for locking the seat back in the upright position,
a rotary locking knob for unlocking the locking mechanism, and
a key cylinder capable of locking and unlocking the locking knob.
2. Description of Related Art
For an automobile in which a seat back separating a vehicle compartment from a luggage compartment is configured so as to be capable of being changed from an upright position to a folded-down position, in which the seat back is folded down to the vehicle front side, and vice versa, even if the luggage compartment has been locked up, luggage in the luggage compartment may be stolen by folding the seat back down to the vehicle front side from the vehicle compartment side. Therefore, by providing a key cylinder capable of locking and unlocking a locking knob, the luggage in the luggage compartment may be prevented from being stolen.
Conventionally, in a seat back locking device for an automobile, as disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. 04-6982, a contact part that comes into contact with a contacted part provided on a support case for a locking knob has been formed of a plate material separate from a cylinder body part of a key cylinder and has been connected to the lower end portion of the cylinder body part.
By this configuration, the key cylinder has been formed so as to be capable of being changed from a locked state in which the contact part comes into contact with the contacted part to inhibit the rotation of the locking knob to an unlocked state in which the contact part does not come into contact with the contacted part to allow the rotation of the locking knob and vice versa.
Unfortunately, according to the above-described conventional configuration, the contact part that comes into contact with the contacted part has been formed of the plate material separate from the cylinder body part of the key cylinder. Therefore, the number of parts of the key cylinder has been large, the construction has been complicated, and the required space has been large. Also, the rigidity of the contact part has been less likely to be ensured.